Background: MR spectroscopy of intact biopsies can provide a metabolic snapshot of the investigated tissue. The\r\naim of the present study was to explore the metabolic pattern of uninvolved skin, psoriatic skin and corticosteroid\r\ntreated psoriatic skin.\r\nMethods: The three types of skin biopsy samples were excised from patients with psoriasis (N = 10). Lesions were\r\nevaluated clinically, and tissue biopsies were excised and analyzed by one-dimensional 1H MR spectroscopy.\r\nRelative levels were calculated for nine tissue metabolites. Subsequently, relative amounts of epidermis, dermis and\r\nsubcutaneous tissue were scored by histopathological evaluation of HES stained sections.\r\nResults: Seven out of 10 patients experienced at least 40% reduction in clinical score after corticosteroid treatment.\r\nTissue biopsies from psoriatic skin contained lower levels of the metabolites myo-inositol and glucose, and higher\r\nlevels of choline and taurine compared to uninvolved skin. In corticosteroid treated psoriatic skin, tissue levels of\r\nglucose, myo-inositol, GPC and glycine were increased, whereas choline was reduced, in patients with good\r\ntherapeutic effect. These tissue levels are becoming more similar to metabolite levels in uninvolved skin.\r\nConclusion: This MR method demonstrates that metabolism in psoriatic skin becomes similar to that of uninvolved\r\nskin after effective corticosteroid treatment. MR profiling of skin lesions reflect metabolic alterations related to\r\npathogenesis and treatment effects.
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